Judge Screams at Lawyer to Interfere With His Defense of Mr. Xie Chengguo

January 14, 2014 | By a Minghui correspondent in Sichuan Province, China

(Minghui.org) Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Xie Chenguo was illegally tried in the Fucheng District in Jinyang City on December 31, 2013.

The trial ran from 10 a.m. to noon. Mr. Xie’s children had retained a lawyer from Beijing to defend their father. The lawyer entered a “not guilty” plea on behalf of Mr. Xie, and despite frequent interruptions by judge Wang Chen, presented a sound defense argument.

The courtroom was very small, with only seven or eight seats in the public gallery. Only relatives were allowed to attend, although Zhiqian City practitioners had invited local practitioners to participate and help clarify the truth. As result, about 20 people were denied entry.

Presiding judge Wang Chen made several attempts to interfere with the lawyer’s defense in which he pointed out that “Xie Chengguo’s practicing Falun Gong is legal. The national law provides for freedom of belief.”

Wang interrupted, “Don’t about talk about that to me. It is not related to the case. Do you hear me?”

The lawyer continued, “Falun Gong is based on the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance and asks its practitioners to become better people. There is nothing wrong with it. There is also nothing inherent in the practice that is in violation of any law, and it does not harm society.”

“Don’t Talk to Me about Truth”

Judge Wang shouted, “Don’t talk about truth! That has nothing to do with the case. Are you clear on that? You do not say that here; truth has nothing to do with this case. You got that yet?”

The lawyer continued, “Falun Gong is not a cult. No state law or regulation mentions that Falun Gong is a cult.”

The judge began to scream, “Whether or not it is cult, you don’t need to tell me! You are here to listen to the judge! Are you clear?”

The attorney went on: “In accordance with the relevant provisions established by the recent Supreme Court decision, my client should not be handcuffed or wearing prison garb at this point.”

The bailiffs removed the handcuffs from Mr. Xie, but he was told to keep his prison uniform on.

Sichuan Dialect Used Instead of Mandarin

During the trial, judge Wang and prosecutor Den Weiyuan spoke in the Shichuan dialect rather than the more common Mandarin. And prosecutor Den spoke so softly that he was inaudible to the rest of the courtroom.

The defense attorney asked them several times to speak in Mandarin, because Sichuan dialects were hard to follow, especially for people from the north of China, e.g. Beijing. Judge Wang, however, made an excuse by saying “Sichuan dialect would be more appropriate for the local people present in the courtroom.”

Finally, the defense attorney advised the judge, “Li Dongshen, the 610 Office head and vice minister of public security, has already stepped down. You should reconsider your thoughts on this case. We should wait and see what happens.”

Judge Wang seemed to be not affected by the comments and once again retorted, “This has nothing to do with the case.”